E x c e l
®2 0 1 6
FORMULAS
and
FUNCTIONS
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Paul McFedries
800 East 96th Street
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Excel® 2016
Formulas and
Functions
C o n t e n t s a t a G l a n c e
Introduction . . . 1
Part I: Mastering Excel Ranges and Formulas 1 Getting the Most Out of Ranges. . . 5
2 Using Range Names. . . 37
3 Building Basic Formulas . . . 53
4 Creating Advanced Formulas . . . 87
5 Troubleshooting Formulas . . . 111
Part II: Harnessing the Power of Functions 6 Understanding Functions . . . 129
7 Working with Text Functions . . . .l39 8 Working with Logical and Information Functions. . . 163
9 Working with Lookup Functions . . . 191
10 Working with Date and Time Functions . . . 207
11 Working with Math Functions . . . 237
12 Working with Statistical Functions . . . 257
Part III: Building Business Models 13 Analyzing Data with Tables . . . 291
14 Analyzing Data with PivotTables. . . 325
15 Using Excel’s Business Modeling Tools . . . 349
16 Using Regression to Track Trends and Make Forecasts. . . . 371
17 Solving Complex Problems with Solver . . . 411
Part IV: Building Financial Formulas 18 Building Loan Formulas . . . 433
19 Building Investment Formulas. . . 453
20 Building Discount Formulas . . . 467
Excel® 2016 Formulas and Functions
Copyright © 2016 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Nor is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. ISBN-13: 978-0-7897-5564-3
ISBN-10: 0-7897-5564-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015944776 Printed in the United States of America
First Printing: October 2015
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( c )
Contents
Introduction . . . 1
P A R T I: M A S T E R I N G E X C E L R A N G E S A N D F O R M U L A S
1 Getting the Most Out of Ranges . . . 5
Advanced Range-Selection Techniques . . . .5
Mouse Range-Selection Tricks . . . .6
Keyboard Range-Selection Tricks. . . .7
Working with 3D Ranges . . . .7
Selecting a Range Using Go To. . . .8
Using the Go To Special Dialog Box . . . .9
Data Entry in a Range. . . .14
Filling a Range. . . .14
Using the Fill Handle . . . .15
Flash-Filling a Range . . . .18
Creating a Series . . . .20
Advanced Range Copying and Pasting. . . .21
Pasting Selected Cell Attributes. . . .22
Combining Two Ranges Arithmetically. . . .23
Transposing Rows and Columns . . . .24
Clearing a Range . . . .25
Applying Conditional Formatting to a Range . . . .25
Creating Highlight Cells Rules . . . .26
Creating Top/Bottom Rules . . . .27
Adding Data Bars . . . .29
Adding Color Scales . . . .32
Adding Icon Sets. . . .33
2 Using Range Names. . . .37
Defining a Range Name . . . .38
Working with the Name Box . . . .39
Using the New Name Dialog Box . . . .40
Changing the Scope to Define Sheet-Level Names . . . .41
Using Worksheet Text to Define Names . . . .41
Naming Constants . . . .44
Working with Range Names . . . .45
Referring to a Range Name. . . .45
Working with AutoComplete for Range Names. . . .47
Navigating Using Range Names. . . .47
Pasting a List of Range Names in a Worksheet . . . .48
Displaying the Name Manager. . . .48
Excel 2016 Formulas and Functions
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Editing a Range Name’s Coordinates. . . .49
Adjusting Range Name Coordinates Automatically . . . .49
Changing a Range Name. . . .51
Deleting a Range Name. . . .51
Using Names with the Intersection Operator. . . .51
3 Building Basic Formulas . . . .53
Understanding Formula Basics . . . .53
Formula Limits in Excel 2016 . . . .54
Entering and Editing Formulas. . . .54
Using Arithmetic Formulas . . . .55
Using Comparison Formulas. . . .56
Using Text Formulas . . . .57
Using Reference Formulas . . . .57
Understanding Operator Precedence . . . .57
The Order of Precedence . . . .58
Controlling the Order of Precedence . . . .58
Controlling Worksheet Calculation. . . .60
Copying and Moving Formulas . . . .62
Understanding Relative Reference Format. . . .62
Understanding Absolute Reference Format . . . .64
Copying a Formula Without Adjusting Relative References. . . .65
Displaying Worksheet Formulas . . . .65
Displaying All Worksheet Formulas. . . .65
Displaying a Cell’s Formula by Using FORMULATEXT(). . . .65
Converting a Formula to a Value . . . .66
Working with Range Names in Formulas . . . .67
Pasting a Name into a Formula . . . .67
Applying Names to Formulas . . . .68
Naming Formulas. . . .70
Working with Links in Formulas . . . .71
Understanding External References . . . .72
Updating Links . . . .73
Changing the Link Source . . . .73
Formatting Numbers, Dates, and Times . . . .74
Numeric Display Formats . . . .74
Date and Time Display Formats . . . .83
Deleting Custom Formats . . . .85
4 Creating Advanced Formulas . . . .87
Working with Arrays. . . .87
Using Array Formulas . . . .88
Using Array Constants . . . .91
Functions That Use or Return Arrays . . . .91
v
Contents
Consolidating Multisheet Data . . . .95
Consolidating by Position . . . .95
Consolidating by Category . . . .98
Applying Data-Validation Rules to Cells . . . 100
Using Dialog Box Controls on a Worksheet . . . 103
Displaying the Developer Tab. . . 103
Using the Form Controls . . . 103
Adding a Control to a Worksheet. . . 104
Linking a Control to a Cell Value . . . 104
Understanding the Worksheet Controls . . . 105
5 Troubleshooting Formulas . . . .111
Understanding Excel’s Error Values . . . 112
#DIV/0! . . . 112
#N/A . . . 113
#NAME? . . . 113
Case Study: Avoiding #NAME? Errors When Deleting Range Names . . . 114
#NULL! . . . 115
#NUM!. . . 115
#REF!. . . 115
#VALUE! . . . 115
Fixing Other Formula Errors. . . 116
Missing or Mismatched Parentheses. . . 116
Erroneous Formula Results . . . 117
Fixing Circular References . . . 118
Handling Formula Errors with IFERROR(). . . 118
Using the Formula Error Checker . . . 119
Choosing an Error Action. . . 120
Setting Error Checker Options. . . 121
Auditing a Worksheet. . . 123
Understanding Auditing . . . 124
Tracing Cell Precedents . . . 125
Tracing Cell Dependents . . . 125
Tracing Cell Errors . . . 125
Removing Tracer Arrows. . . 125
Evaluating Formulas . . . 126
Watching Cell Values. . . 126
P A R T I I: H A R N E S S I N G T H E P O W E R O F F U N C T I O N S
6 Understanding Functions . . . .129
About Excel’s Functions . . . 130
The Structure of a Function . . . 130
Excel 2016 Formulas and Functions
vi
Using the Insert Function Feature . . . 134
Loading the Analysis ToolPak . . . 136
7 Working with Text Functions. . . .139
Excel’s Text Functions. . . 139
Working with Characters and Codes . . . 141
The CHAR() Function. . . 141
The CODE() Function. . . 144
Converting Text. . . 144
The LOWER() Function . . . 145
The UPPER() Function . . . 145
The PROPER() Function . . . 145
The NUMBERVALUE() Function. . . 145
Formatting Text . . . 146
The DOLLAR() Function . . . 146
The FIXED() Function . . . 147
The TEXT() Function. . . 147
Displaying When a Workbook Was Last Updated . . . 148
Manipulating Text. . . 149
Removing Unwanted Characters from a String . . . 149
The REPT() Function: Repeating a Character or String . . . 150
Extracting a Substring . . . 152
Converting Text to Sentence Case . . . 153
A Date-Conversion Formula . . . 154
Case Study: Generating Account Numbers, Part I . . . 154
Searching for Substrings . . . 155
The FIND() and SEARCH() Functions . . . 155
Extracting a First Name or Last Name . . . 156
Extracting First Name, Last Name, and Middle Initial. . . 157
Determining the Column Letter. . . 157
Substituting One Substring for Another . . . 158
The REPLACE() Function . . . 159
The SUBSTITUTE() Function . . . 159
Removing a Character from a String . . . 160
Removing Two Different Characters from a String . . . 160
Case Study: Generating Account Numbers, Part II. . . 161
Removing Line Feeds. . . 161
8 Working with Logical and Information Functions . . . .163
Adding Intelligence with Logical Functions . . . 163
Using the IF() Function . . . 164
Performing Multiple Logical Tests . . . 167
Combining Logical Functions with Arrays . . . 173
vii
Contents
Getting Data with Information Functions . . . 181
The CELL() Function. . . 182
The ERROR.TYPE() Function . . . 184
The INFO() Function. . . 186
The SHEET() and SHEETS() Functions . . . 186
The IS Functions . . . 187
9 Working with Lookup Functions . . . .191
Excel’s Lookup Functions . . . 191
Understanding Lookup Tables. . . 192
The CHOOSE() Function . . . 193
Determining the Name of the Day of the Week. . . 194
Determining the Month of the Fiscal Year . . . 194
Calculating Weighted Questionnaire Results . . . 195
Integrating CHOOSE() and Worksheet Option Buttons . . . 195
Looking Up Values in Tables . . . 196
The VLOOKUP() Function . . . 197
The HLOOKUP() Function . . . 197
Returning a Customer Discount Rate with a Range Lookup. . . 198
Returning a Tax Rate with a Range Lookup . . . 199
Finding Exact Matches. . . 200
Advanced Lookup Operations. . . 201
10 Working with Date and Time Functions. . . .207
How Excel Deals with Dates and Times . . . 207
Entering Dates and Times . . . 208
Excel and Two-Digit Years. . . 209
Using Excel’s Date Functions . . . 210
Returning a Date . . . 212
Returning Parts of a Date . . . 213
Calculating the Difference Between Two Dates. . . 223
Using Excel’s Time Functions. . . 227
Returning a Time . . . 228
Returning Parts of a Time . . . 229
Calculating the Difference Between Two Times . . . 231
Case Study: Building an Employee Time Sheet . . . 231
11 Working with Math Functions . . . .237
Excel’s Math and Trig Functions . . . 237
Understanding Excel’s Rounding Functions . . . 241
The ROUND() Function . . . 241
The MROUND() Function . . . 242
The ROUNDDOWN() and ROUNDUP() Functions. . . 242
Excel 2016 Formulas and Functions
viii
The EVEN() and ODD() Functions . . . 245
The INT() and TRUNC() Functions . . . 245
Case Study: Rounding Billable Time . . . 247
Summing Values. . . 247
The SUM() Function . . . 247
Calculating Cumulative Totals . . . 248
Summing Only the Positive or Negative Values in a Range . . . 249
The MOD() Function . . . 249
A Better Formula for Time Differences . . . 250
Summing Every nth Row. . . 250
Determining Whether a Year Is a Leap Year. . . 251
Creating Ledger Shading. . . 251
Generating Random Numbers. . . 253
The RAND() Function. . . 253
The RANDBETWEEN() Function. . . 255
12 Working with Statistical Functions. . . .257
Excel’s Statistical Functions . . . 257
Understanding Descriptive Statistics . . . 260
Counting Items with the COUNT() Function. . . 261
Calculating Averages . . . 262
The AVERAGE() Function . . . 262
The MEDIAN() Function . . . 262
The MODE() Function. . . 263
Calculating the Weighted Mean . . . 263
Calculating Extreme Values . . . 264
The MAX() and MIN() Functions . . . 264
The LARGE() and SMALL() Functions . . . 266
Performing Calculations on the Top k Values . . . 266
Performing Calculations on the Bottom k Values . . . 267
Calculating Measures of Variation . . . 267
Calculating the Range . . . 268
Calculating the Variance . . . 268
Calculating the Standard Deviation. . . 269
Working with Frequency Distributions . . . 270
The FREQUENCY() Function . . . 271
Understanding the Normal Distribution and the NORMDIST() Function . . . 272
The Shape of the Curve I: The SKEW() Function . . . 274
The Shape of the Curve II: The KURT() Function . . . 275
Using the Analysis ToolPak Statistical Tools . . . 276
Using the Descriptive Statistics Tool . . . 279
Determining the Correlation Between Data. . . 280
Working with Histograms. . . 283
Using the Random Number Generation Tool . . . 285
ix
Contents
P A R T I I I: B U I L D I N G B U S I N E S S M O D E L S
13 Analyzing Data with Tables . . . .291
Planning an Excel Table . . . 291
Converting a Range to a Table . . . 292
Basic Table Operations . . . 294
Sorting a Table . . . 295
Performing a More Complex Sort. . . 296
Sorting a Table in Natural Order . . . 297
Sorting on Part of a Field . . . 298
Sorting Without Articles . . . 299
Filtering Table Data . . . 300
Using Filter Lists to Filter a Table. . . 300
Using Complex Criteria to Filter a Table . . . 304
Entering Computed Criteria . . . 307
Copying Filtered Data to a Different Range . . . 308
Referencing Tables in Formulas . . . 309
Using Table Specifiers . . . 309
Entering Table Formulas . . . 311
Excel’s Table Functions. . . 313
About Table Functions. . . 313
Table Functions That Don’t Require a Criteria Range . . . 313
Table Functions That Accept Multiple Criteria . . . 317
Table Functions That Require a Criteria Range . . . 319
Case Study: Applying Statistical Table Functions to a Defects Database . . . 322
14 Analyzing Data with PivotTables . . . .325
What Are PivotTables? . . . 325
How PivotTables Work . . . 326
Some PivotTable Terms. . . 328
Building PivotTables. . . 329
Building a PivotTable from a Table or Range. . . 329
Building a PivotTable from an External Database . . . 332
Working with and Customizing a PivotTable. . . 333
Working with PivotTable Subtotals . . . 333
Hiding PivotTable Grand Totals . . . 334
Hiding PivotTable Subtotals . . . 334
Customizing the Subtotal Calculation. . . 334
Changing the Data Field Summary Calculation . . . 335
Using a Difference Summary Calculation . . . 336
Using a Percentage Summary Calculation . . . 337
Using a Running Total Summary Calculation. . . 340
Excel 2016 Formulas and Functions
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Creating Custom PivotTable Calculations . . . 342
Creating a Calculated Field . . . 344
Creating a Calculated Item . . . 346
Using PivotTable Results in a Worksheet Formula. . . 347
15 Using Excel’s Business Modeling Tools . . . .349
Using What-If Analysis. . . 349
Setting Up a One-Input Data Table . . . 350
Adding More Formulas to the Input Table . . . 352
Setting Up a Two-Input Data Table . . . 353
Editing a Data Table. . . 355
Working with Goal Seek. . . 355
How Does Goal Seek Work? . . . 355
Running Goal Seek. . . 356
Optimizing Product Margin . . . 358
A Note About Goal Seek’s Approximations. . . 358
Performing a Break-Even Analysis. . . 360
Solving Algebraic Equations . . . 360
Working with Scenarios . . . 362
Understanding Scenarios . . . 362
Setting Up Your Worksheet for Scenarios. . . 363
Adding a Scenario . . . 364
Displaying a Scenario. . . 365
Editing a Scenario . . . 366
Merging Scenarios . . . 367
Generating a Summary Report. . . 367
Deleting a Scenario . . . 369
16 Using Regression to Track Trends and Make Forecasts . . . .371
Choosing a Regression Method. . . 372
Using Simple Regression on Linear Data . . . 372
Analyzing Trends Using Best-Fit Lines . . . 373
Making Forecasts . . . 380
Case Study: Trend Analysis and Forecasting for a Seasonal Sales Model . . . 386
Using Simple Regression on Nonlinear Data. . . 393
Working with an Exponential Trend . . . 394
Working with a Logarithmic Trend . . . 399
Working with a Power Trend . . . 401
Using Polynomial Regression Analysis . . . 403
Using Multiple Regression Analysis . . . 407
17 Solving Complex Problems with Solver . . . .411
Some Background on Solver . . . 411
The Advantages of Solver . . . 412
xi
Contents
Loading Solver. . . 413
Using Solver. . . 413
Adding Constraints . . . 416
Saving a Solution as a Scenario. . . 418
Setting Other Solver Options. . . 418
Selecting the Method Solver Uses . . . 419
Controlling How Solver Works . . . 419
Working with Solver Models . . . 422
Making Sense of Solver’s Messages . . . 424
Case Study: Solving the Transportation Problem . . . 425
Displaying Solver’s Reports . . . 427
The Answer Report. . . 427
The Sensitivity Report . . . 429
The Limits Report. . . 430
P A R T I V: B U I L D I N G F I N A N C I A L F O R M U L A S
18 Building Loan Formulas . . . .433
Understanding the Time Value of Money . . . 433
Calculating a Loan Payment . . . 435
Loan Payment Analysis . . . 435
Working with a Balloon Loan. . . 436
Calculating Interest Costs, Part 1 . . . 436
Calculating the Principal and Interest. . . 437
Calculating Interest Costs, Part 2 . . . 438
Calculating Cumulative Principal and Interest. . . 439
Building a Loan Amortization Schedule. . . 440
Building a Fixed-Rate Amortization Schedule . . . 440
Building a Dynamic Amortization Schedule . . . 441
Calculating the Term of a Loan . . . 443
Calculating the Interest Rate Required for a Loan . . . 445
Calculating How Much You Can Borrow . . . 446
Case Study: Working with Mortgages. . . 447
19 Building Investment Formulas . . . .453
Working with Interest Rates . . . 453
Understanding Compound Interest. . . 454
Nominal Versus Effective Interest . . . 454
Converting Between the Nominal Rate and the Effective Rate . . . 455
Calculating the Future Value. . . 456
The Future Value of a Lump Sum. . . 456
The Future Value of a Series of Deposits. . . 457
Excel 2016 Formulas and Functions
xii
Working Toward an Investment Goal . . . 458
Calculating the Required Interest Rate . . . 458
Calculating the Required Number of Periods . . . 459
Calculating the Required Regular Deposit . . . 460
Calculating the Required Initial Deposit . . . 461
Calculating the Future Value with Varying Interest Rates . . . 461
Case Study: Building an Investment Schedule. . . 462
20 Building Discount Formulas . . . .467
Calculating the Present Value . . . 468
Taking Inflation into Account. . . 468
Calculating Present Value Using PV(). . . 469
Income Investing Versus Purchasing a Rental Property . . . 470
Buying Versus Leasing. . . 471
Discounting Cash Flows . . . 472
Calculating the Net Present Value . . . 473
Calculating Net Present Value Using NPV(). . . 474
Net Present Value with Varying Cash Flows. . . 475
Net Present Value with Nonperiodic Cash Flows . . . 476
Calculating the Payback Period. . . 477
Simple Undiscounted Payback Period. . . 477
Exact Undiscounted Payback Point . . . 478
Discounted Payback Period. . . 479
Calculating the Internal Rate of Return . . . 479
Using the IRR() Function. . . 480
Calculating the Internal Rate of Return for Nonperiodic Cash Flows . . . 480
Calculating Multiple Internal Rates of Return . . . 481
Case Study: Publishing a Book . . . 482
About the Author
Paul McFedries is an Excel expert and full-time technical writer. Paul has been authoring
computer books since 1991 and has more than 85 books to his credit, which combined have sold more than 4 million copies worldwide. His titles include the Que Publishing books My
Office 2016, Windows 10 In Depth (with coauthor Brian Knittel), and PCs for Grownups, as
well as the Sams Publishing book Windows 7 Unleashed. Paul is also the proprietor of Word Spy (www.wordspy.com), a website devoted to lexpionage, the sleuthing of new words and phrases that have entered the English language. Please drop by Paul’s personal website at www.mcfedries.com or follow Paul on Twitter, at twitter.com/wordspy.
Dedication
To KarenAcknowledgments
Substitute damn every time you’re inclined to write very; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.
—Mark Twain
I didn’t follow Mark Twain’s advice in this book (the word very appears throughout), but if my writing still appears “just as it should be,” then it’s because of the keen minds and sharp linguistic eyes of the editors at Que. Near the front of the book you’ll find a long list of the hard-working professionals whose fingers made it into this particular paper pie. However, there are a few folks I worked with directly, so I’d like to single them out for extra credit. A big, heaping helping of thanks goes out to acquisitions editor Michelle Newcomb, develop-ment editors Todd Brakke and Joyce Nielsen, project editor Lori Lyons, copy editor Kitty Wilson, compositor Nonie Ratcliff, and technical editor Bob Umlas.
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I N T R O D U C T I O N
The old 80/20 rule for software—that 80% of a program’s users use only 20% of a program’s features—doesn’t apply to Microsoft Excel. Instead, this program probably operates under what could be called the 95/5 rule: Ninety-five percent of Excel users use a mere 5% of the program’s power. On the other hand, most people know that they could be getting more out of Excel if they could only get a leg up on building formulas and using functions. Unfortunately, this side of Excel appears complex and intimidating to the uninitiated, shrouded as it is in the mysteries of mathematics, finance, and impenetrable spreadsheet jargon.
If this sounds like the situation you find yourself in, and if you’re a businessperson who needs to use Excel as an everyday part of your job, you’ve come to the right book. In Excel 2016 Formulas and
Func-tions , I demystify the building of worksheet formulas
and present the most useful of Excel’s many func-tions in an accessible, jargon-free way. This book not only takes you through Excel’s intermediate and advanced formula-building features but also tells you why these features are useful to you and shows you how to use them in everyday situations and real-world models. This book does all this with no-nonsense, step-by-step tutorials and lots of practical, useful examples aimed directly at business users. Even if you’ve never been able to get Excel to do much beyond storing data and adding a couple of numbers, you’ll find this book to your liking. I show you how to build useful, powerful formulas from the ground up, so no experience with Excel formulas and functions is necessary.
I N T H I S C H A P T E R
What’s in the Book ...2 This Book’s Special Features...2Introduction
2
What’s in the Book
This book isn’t meant to be read from cover to cover, although you’re certainly free to do just that if the mood strikes you. Instead, most of the chapters are set up as self-contained units that you can dip into at will to extract whatever nuggets of information you need. However, if you’re a relatively new Excel user, I suggest starting with Chapters 1 , “Getting the Most Out of Ranges,” 2 , “Using Range Names,” 3 , “Building Basic Formulas,” and 6 , “Understanding Functions,” to ensure that you have a thorough grounding in the funda-mentals of Excel ranges, formulas, and functions.
The book is divided into four main parts. To give you the big picture before diving in, here’s a summary of what you’ll find in each part:
■ Part I , “Mastering Excel Ranges and Formulas” — The five chapters in Part I tell you just about everything you need to know about building formulas in Excel. Starting with a thorough look at ranges (crucial for mastering formulas), this part also dis-cusses operators, expressions, advanced formula features, and formula-troubleshooting techniques.
■ Part II , “Harnessing the Power of Functions” — Functions take your formulas to the next level, and you’ll learn all about them in Part II . After you see how to use func-tions in your formulas, you’ll examine the eight main function categories—text, logical, information, lookup, date, time, math, and statistical. In each case, I tell you how to use the functions and give you lots of practical examples that show you how you can use the functions in everyday business situations.
■ Part III , “Building Business Models” — The five chapters in Part III are all business, as they examine various facets of building useful and robust business models. You’ll learn how to analyze data with Excel tables and PivotTables, how to use what-if analysis and Excel’s Goal Seek and scenarios features, how to use powerful regression-analysis techniques to track trends and make forecasts, and how to use the amazing Solver fea-ture to solve complex problems.
■ Part IV , “Building Financial Formulas” — The book finishes with more business goodies related to performing financial wizardry with Excel. You’ll learn techniques and functions for amortizing loans, analyzing investments, and using discounting for busi-ness case and cash-flow analysis.
You can download this chapter’s sample workbooks at www.mcfedries. com/books/book.php?title=excel-2016-formulas-and-functions .
NO
TE
This Book’s Special Features
Excel 2016 Formulas and Functions is designed to give you the information you need without making you wade through ponderous explanations and interminable technical background.
3
This Book’s Special Features
To make your life easier, this book includes various features and conventions that help you get the most out of the book and Excel itself:
■ Steps — Throughout the book, each Excel task is summarized in step-by-step procedures.
■ Things you type — Whenever I suggest that you type something, what you type appears in a bold font.
■ Commands — I use the following style for Excel menu commands: F ile, O pen. This means that you pull down the F ile menu and select the O pen command.
■ Dialog box controls — Dialog box controls have underlined accelerator keys: C lose. ■ Functions — Excel worksheet functions appear in capital letters and are followed
by parentheses: SUM() . When I list the arguments you can use with a function, they
appear in italics to indicate that they’re placeholders you replace with actual values; also, optional arguments appear surrounded by square brackets: CELL( info_type [,
reference ]) .
■ Code-continuation character (➥) — When a formula is too long to fit on one line of this book, it’s broken at a convenient place, and the code-continuation character appears at the beginning of the next line.
This book also uses the following boxes to draw your attention to important (or merely interesting) information.
The Note box presents asides that give you more information about the topic under discussion. These tidbits provide extra insights that give you a better understanding of the task at hand.
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➔ These cross-reference elements point you to related material elsewhere in the book.
The Tip box tells you about Excel methods that are easier, faster, or more efficient than the standard methods.
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The all-important Caution box tells you about potential accidents waiting to happen. There are always ways to mess things up when you’re working with computers. These boxes help you avoid at least some of the pitfalls.
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You’ll find these case studies throughout the book. They’re designed to apply what you’ve learned to projects and real-world examples.
Building Basic Formulas
A worksheet is merely a lifeless collection of num-bers and text until you define some kind of rela-tionship among the various entries. You do this by creating formulas that perform calculations and produce results. This chapter takes you through some formula basics, including constructing simple arithmetic and text formulas, understanding the all-important topic of operator precedence, copying and moving worksheet formulas, and making formu-las easier to build and read by taking advantage of range names.
Understanding Formula Basics
Most worksheets are created to provide answers to specific questions: What is the company’s profit? Are expenses over or under budget, and by how much? What is the future value of an investment? How big will an employee’s bonus be this year? You can answer these questions, and an infinite number of others, by using Excel formulas.
All Excel formulas have the same general structure: an equal sign (=) followed by one or more operands , which can be values, cell references, ranges, range names, or function names, separated by one or more operators , which are symbols that combine the oper-ands in some way, such as the plus sign (+) and the greater-than sign (>).
Understanding Formula Basics ... 53 Understanding Operator Precedence ... 57 Controlling Worksheet Calculation ... 60 Copying and Moving Formulas ... 62 Displaying Worksheet Formulas ... 65 Converting a Formula to a Value ... 66 Working with Range Names in Formulas ... 67 Working with Links in Formulas ... 71 Formatting Numbers, Dates, and Times ... 74
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Formula Limits in Excel 2016
It’s a good idea to know the limits Excel sets on various aspects of formulas and worksheet models, even though it’s unlikely that you’ll ever bump up against these limits. Formula limits that were expanded in Excel 2007 remain the same in Excel 2016. So, in the unlikely event that you’re coming to Excel 2016 from Excel 2003 or earlier, Table 3.1 shows you the updated limits.
Table 3.1
Formula-Related Limits in Excel 2016
Object Excel 2016 Maximum Excel 2003 Maximum
Columns 16,384 1,024
Rows 1,048,576 65,536
Formula length (characters) 8,192 1,024
Function arguments 255 30
Formula nesting levels 64 7
Array references (rows or columns) Unlimited 65,335 PivotTable columns 16,384 255 PivotTable rows 1,048,576 65,536
PivotTable fields 16,384 255
Unique PivotField items 1,048,576 32,768
➔ Formula nesting levels refers to the number of expressions that are nested within other expressions using parentheses; see “Controlling the Order of Precedence,” p. 58 .
Entering and Editing Formulas
Entering a new formula into a worksheet appears to be a straightforward process:
1. Select the cell in which you want to enter the formula.
2. Type an equal sign ( = ) to tell Excel that you’re entering a formula.
3. Type the formula’s operands and operators.
4. Press Enter to confirm the formula.
Excel doesn’t object if you use spaces between operators and operands in your formulas. This is actually a good practice to get into because separating the elements of a formula in this way can make them much easier to read. Note, too, that Excel accepts line breaks in formulas. This is handy if you have a very long formula because it enables you to “break up” the formula so that it appears on multiple lines. To create a line break within a formula, press Alt+Enter.
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However, Excel has three different input modes that determine how it interprets certain key-strokes and mouse actions:
■ When you type the equal sign to begin the formula, Excel goes into Enter mode , which is the mode you use to enter text (such as the formula’s operands and operators). ■ If you press any keyboard navigation key (such as Page Up, Page Down, or any arrow
key), or if you click any other cell in the worksheet, Excel enters Point mode . This is the mode you use to select a cell or range as a formula operand. When you’re in Point mode, you can use any of the standard range-selection techniques. Note that Excel returns to Enter mode as soon as you type an operator or any character.
■ If you press F2, Excel enters Edit mode , which is the mode you use to make changes to the formula. For example, when you’re in Edit mode, you can use the left and right arrow keys to move the cursor to another part of the formula for deleting or insert-ing characters. You can also enter Edit mode by clickinsert-ing anywhere within the formula. Press F2 to return to Enter mode.
You can tell which mode Excel is currently in by looking at the status bar. On the left side, you’ll see “Enter,” “Point,” or “Edit.”
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After you’ve entered a formula, you might need to return to it to make changes. Excel gives you three ways to enter Edit mode and make changes to a formula in the selected cell: ■ Press F2.
■ Double-click the cell.
■ Use the formula bar to click anywhere inside the formula text.
Excel divides formulas into four groups: arithmetic, comparison, text, and reference. Each group has its own set of operators, and you use each group in different ways. In the next few sections, I show you how to use each type of formula.
Using Arithmetic Formulas
Arithmetic formulas are by far the most common type of formula. They combine numbers, cell addresses, and function results with mathematical operators to perform calculations. Table 3.2 summarizes the mathematical operators used in arithmetic formulas.
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Table 3.2
The Arithmetic Operators
Operator Name Example Result
+ Addition =10+5 15 - Subtraction =10-5 5 - Negation =-10 –10 * Multiplication =10*5 50 / Division =10/5 2 % Percentage =10% 0.1 ^ Exponentiation =10^5 100000
Most of these operators are straightforward, but the exponentiation operator might require further explanation. The formula =x^y means that the value x is raised to the power y . For
example, the formula =3^2 produces the result 9 (that is, 3*3=9). Similarly, the formula =2^4
produces 16 (that is, 2*2*2*2=16).
Using Comparison Formulas
A comparison formula is a statement that compares two or more numbers, text strings, cell contents, or function results. If the statement is true, the result of the formula is given the logical value TRUE (which is equivalent to any nonzero value). If the statement is false, the
formula returns the logical value FALSE (which is equivalent to zero). Table 3.3 summarizes
the operators you can use in comparison formulas.
Table 3.3
Comparison Formula Operators
Operator Name Example Result
= Equal to =10=5 FALSE > Greater than =10>5 TRUE < Less than =10<5 FALSE >= Greater than or equal to ="a">="b" FALSE <= Less than or equal to ="a"<="b" TRUE <> Not equal to ="a"<>"b" TRUE
Comparison formulas have many uses. For example, you can determine whether to pay a salesperson a bonus by using a comparison formula to compare actual sales with a predeter-mined quota. If the sales are greater than the quota, the rep is awarded the bonus. You also can monitor credit collection. For example, if the amount a customer owes is more than 150 days past due, you might send the invoice to a collection agency.
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➔ Comparison formulas also make use of Excel’s logical functions, so see “Adding Intelligence with Logical Functions,” p. 163 .
Using Text Formulas
The two types of formulas that I discussed in the previous sections, arithmetic formulas and comparison formulas, calculate or make comparisons and return values. A text formula , on the other hand, is a formula that returns text. Text formulas use the ampersand ( & ) operator
to work with text cells, text strings enclosed in quotation marks, and text function results. One way to use text formulas is to concatenate text strings. For example, if you enter the formula ="soft"&"ware" into a cell, Excel displays software . Note that the quotation
marks and the ampersand aren’t shown in the result. You also can use & to combine cells
that contain text. For example, if A1 contains the text Ben and A2 contains Jerry , entering
the formula =A1&" and "&A2 returns Ben and Jerry .
➔ For other uses of text formulas, see Chapter 7, “Working with Text Functions,” p. 139 .
Using Reference Formulas
The reference operators combine two cell references or ranges to create a single joint refer-ence. Table 3.4 summarizes the operators you can use in reference formulas.
Table 3.4
Reference Formula Operators
Operator Name Description
: (colon) Range Produces a range from two cell references (for example, A1:C5). (space) Intersection Produces a range that is the intersection of two ranges (for
example, A1:C5 B2:E8).
, (comma) Union Produces a range that is the union of two ranges (for example, A1:C5,B2:E8).
Understanding Operator Precedence
You’ll often use simple formulas that contain just two values and a single operator. In prac-tice, however, most formulas you use will have a number of values and operators. In more complex expressions, the order in which the calculations are performed becomes crucial. For example, consider the formula =3+5^2 . If you calculate from left to right, the answer
you get is 64 (3+5 equals 8, and 8^2 equals 64). However, if you perform the exponentia-tion first and then the addiexponentia-tion, the result is 28 (5^2 equals 25, and 3+25 equals 28). As this example shows, a single formula can produce multiple answers, depending on the order in which you perform the calculations.
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To control this problem, Excel evaluates a formula according to a predefined order of
pre-cedence . This order of prepre-cedence enables Excel to calculate a formula unambiguously by
determining which part of the formula it calculates first, which part second, and so on.
The Order of Precedence
Excel’s order of precedence is determined by the various formula operators outlined earlier. Table 3.5 summarizes the complete order of precedence used by Excel.
Table 3.5
The Excel Order of Precedence
Operator Operation Order of Precedence
: Range 1st <space> Intersection 2nd , Union 3rd - Negation 4th % Percentage 5th ^ Exponentiation 6th
* and / Multiplication and division 7th + and - Addition and subtraction 8th & Concatenation 9th = < > <= >= <> Comparison 10th
From this table, you can see that Excel performs exponentiation before addition. Therefore, the correct answer for the formula =3+5^2 , given previously, is 28. Notice also that some
operators in Table 3.5 have the same order of precedence (for example, multiplication and division). This means that it usually doesn’t matter in which order these operators are evalu-ated. For example, consider the formula =5*10/2 . If you perform the multiplication first,
the answer you get is 25 (5*10 equals 50, and 50/2 equals 25). If you perform the division first, you also get an answer of 25 (10/2 equals 5, and 5*5 equals 25). By convention, Excel evaluates operators with the same order of precedence from left to right, so you should assume that’s how your formulas will be evaluated.
Controlling the Order of Precedence
Sometimes you want to override the order of precedence. For example, suppose that you want to create a formula that calculates the pre-tax cost of an item. If you bought some-thing for $10.65, including 7% sales tax, and you want to find the cost of the item minus the tax, you use the formula =10.65/1.07 , which gives you the correct answer, $9.95. In
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Figure 3.2 shows how you might implement such a formula. Cell B5 displays the Total Cost variable, and cell B6 displays the Tax Rate variable. Given these parameters, your first instinct might be to use the formula =B5/1+B6 to calculate the original cost. This formula
is shown (as text) in cell E9, and the result is given in cell D9. As you can see, this answer is incorrect. What happened? Well, according to the rules of precedence, Excel performs divi-sion before addition, so the value in B5 first is divided by 1 and then is added to the value in B6. To get the correct answer, you must override the order of precedence so that the addition 1+B6 is performed first. You do this by surrounding that part of the formula with parentheses, as shown in cell E10. When this is done, you get the correct answer (cell D10).
Figure 3.1
The general formula to calculate the pre-tax cost of an item.
In Figure 3.2 , how did I convince Excel to show the formulas in cells E9 and E10 as text? I used Excel’s
FORMULATEXT() function (see “Displaying a Cell’s Formula by Using FORMULATEXT() ,” later in
this chapter).
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In general, you can use parentheses to control the order that Excel uses to calculate formu-las. Terms inside parentheses are always calculated first; terms outside parentheses are calcu-lated sequentially (according to the order of precedence).
Figure 3.2
Use parentheses to con-trol the order of prece-dence in your formulas.
You can download this chapter’s sample workbooks at www.mcfedries.com/books/book. php?title=excel-2016-formulas-and-functions .
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To gain even more control over your formulas, you can place parentheses inside one another; this is called nesting parentheses. Excel always evaluates the innermost set of paren-theses first. Here are a few sample formulas:
Formula 1st Step 2nd Step 3rd Step Result
3^(15/5)*2–5 3^3*2–5 27*2–5 54–5 49 3^((15/5)*2–5) 3^(3*2–5) 3^(6–5) 3^1 3 3^(15/(5*2–5)) 3^(15/(10–5)) 3^(15/5) 3^3 27 Notice that the order of precedence rules also hold within parentheses. For example, in the expression (5*2–5), the term 5*2 is calculated before 5 is subtracted.
Using parentheses to determine the order of calculations enables you to gain full control over your Excel formulas. This way, you can make sure that the answer given by a formula is the one you want.
Another good use for parentheses is raising a number to a fractional power. For example, if you want to take the n th root of a number, you use the following general formula:
= number ^ (1 / n )
For example, to take the cube root of the value in cell A1, use this:
=A1 ^ (1 / 3)
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One of the most common mistakes when using parentheses in formulas is to forget to close a paren-thetic term with a right parenthesis. In such a case, Excel generates an error message (and offers a solution to the problem). To make sure that you’ve closed each parenthetic term, count all the left and right parentheses. If these totals don’t match, you know you’ve left out a parenthesis.
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Controlling Worksheet Calculation
Excel always calculates a formula when you confirm its entry, and the program normally recalculates existing formulas automatically whenever their data changes. This behavior is fine for small worksheets, but it can slow you down if you have a complex model that takes several seconds or even several minutes to recalculate. To turn off this automatic recalcula-tion, Excel gives you two ways to get started:
■ Select Formulas, Calculation Options. ■ Select File, Options and then click Formulas.
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Either way, you’re presented with three calculation options:
■ Automatic— This is the default calculation mode, and it means that Excel recalculates formulas as soon as you enter them and as soon as the data for a formula changes. ■ Automatic Except for Data Tables— In this calculation mode, Excel recalculates
all formulas automatically, except for those associated with data tables. This is a good choice if your worksheet includes one or more massive data tables that are slowing down the recalculation.
➔ To learn how to set up data tables, see “Using What-If Analysis,” p. 349 .
■ Manual— Select this mode to force Excel not to recalculate any formulas until either you manually recalculate or you save the workbook. If you’re in the Excel Options dia-log box, you can tell Excel not to recalculate when you save the workbook by clearing the Recalculate Workbook Before Saving check box.
With manual calculation turned on, you see “Calculate” in the status bar whenever your worksheet data changes and your formula results need to be updated. When you want to recalculate, first display the Formulas tab. In the Calculation group, you have two choices: ■ Click Calculate Now (or press F9) to recalculate every open worksheet.
■ Click Calculate Sheet (or press Shift+F9) to recalculate only the active worksheet.
If you want Excel to recalculate every formula—even those that are unchanged—in all open work-sheets, press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F9.
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If you want to recalculate only part of your worksheet while manual calculation is turned on, you have two options:
■ To recalculate a single formula, select the cell containing the formula, click in the for-mula bar, and then confirm the cell (by pressing Enter or clicking the Enter button). ■ To recalculate a range, select the range; select Home, Find & Select, Replace (or press
Ctrl+H); and enter an equal sign (=) in both the Find What and Replace With boxes. Click Replace All. Excel “replaces” the equal sign in each formula with another equal sign. This doesn’t actually change any formula, but it forces Excel to recalculate each formula.
Excel supports multithreaded calculation on computers with either multiple processors or processors with multiple cores. For each processor (or core), Excel sets up a thread (a separate process of execution). Excel can then use each available thread to process multiple calculations concurrently. For a worksheet with multiple, independent formulas, this can dramatically speed up calculations. To make sure multi-threaded calculation is turned on, select File, Options, click Advanced, and then in the Formulas section ensure that the Enable Multi-Threaded Calculation check box is selected.
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Copying and Moving Formulas
You copy and move ranges that contain formulas the same way you copy and move regular ranges, but the results aren’t always straightforward.
For example, Figure 3.3 shows a list of expense data for a company. The formula in cell C11 uses the SUM() function to total the January expenses (range C6:C10). The idea behind this
worksheet is to calculate a new expense budget number for 2016 as a percentage increase of the actual 2015 total. Cell C3 displays the INCREASE variable (in this case, the increase being used is 3%). The formula that calculates the 2016 BUDGET number (cell C13 for the month of January) multiplies the 2015 TOTAL by the INCREASE (that is, =C11*C3 ).
Figure 3.3
A budget expenses worksheet with two cal-culations for the January numbers: the total (cell C11) and a percentage increase for next year (cell C13).
The next step is to calculate the 2015 TOTAL expenses and the 2016 BUDGET figure for February. You could just type each new formula, but you can copy a cell much more quickly. Figure 3.4 shows the results when you copy the contents of cell C11 into cell D11. As you can see, Excel adjusts the range in the formula’s SUM() function so that only the
Febru-ary expenses (D6:D10) are totaled. How did Excel know to do this? To answer this ques-tion, you need to know about Excel’s relative reference format, which I discuss in the next section.
Understanding Relative Reference Format
When you use a cell reference in a formula, Excel looks at the cell address relative to the location of the formula. For example, suppose that you have the formula =A1*2 in cell
A3. To Excel, this formula says, “Multiply the contents of the cell two rows above this one by 2.” This is called the relative reference format , and it’s the default format for Excel. This means that if you copy this formula to cell A4, the relative reference is still “Multiply the contents of the cell two rows above this one by 2,” but the formula changes to =A2*2
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Figure 3.4 shows why this format is useful. You had only to copy the formula in cell C11 to cell D11 and, thanks to relative referencing, everything came out perfectly. To get the expense total for March, you would just have to paste the same formula into cell E11. You’ll find that this way of handling copy operations will save you incredible amounts of time when you’re building worksheet models.
However, you need to exercise some care when copying or moving formulas. Let’s see what happens if you return to the budget expense worksheet and try copying the 2016 BUDGET formula in cell C13 to cell D13. Figure 3.5 shows that the result is 0!
Figure 3.4
When you copy the January 2015 TOTAL formula to February, Excel automatically adjusts the range reference.
Figure 3.5
Copying the January 2016 BUDGET formula to February creates a problem.
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What happened? The formula bar shows the problem: The new formula is =D11*D3 . Cell
D11 is the February 2015 TOTAL, and that’s fine, but instead of the INCREASE cell (C3), the formula refers to a blank cell (D3). Excel treats blank cells as 0, so the formula result is 0. The problem is the relative reference format. When the formula was copied, Excel assumed that the new formula should refer to cell D3. To see how you can correct this problem, you need to learn about another format, the absolute reference format , which I dis-cuss in the next section.
The relative reference format problem doesn’t occur when you move a formula. When you move a formula, Excel assumes that you want to keep the same cell references.
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Understanding Absolute Reference Format
When you refer to a cell in a formula using the absolute reference format, Excel uses the physical address of the cell. You tell the program that you want to use an absolute reference by placing dollar signs ($) before the row and column of the cell address. To return to the example in the preceding section, Excel interprets the formula =$A$1*2 as “Multiply the
contents of cell A1 by 2.” No matter where you copy or move this formula, the cell refer-ence doesn’t change. The cell address is said to be anchored .
To fix the budget expense worksheet, you need to anchor the INCREASE variable. To do this, you first change the January 2016 BUDGET formula in cell C13 to read =C11*$C$3 .
After making this change, copying the formula to the February 2016 BUDGET column gives the new formula =D11*$C$3 , which produces the correct result.
Most range names refer to absolute cell references. This means that when you copy a formula that uses a range name, the copied formula will use the same range name as the original. This might pro-duce errors in your worksheet.
C A U T I O N
You also should know that you can enter a cell reference using a mixed-reference format. In this format, you anchor either the cell’s row (by placing the dollar sign in front of the row address only—for example, B$6) or its column (by placing the dollar sign in front of the column address only—for example, $B6).
You can quickly change the reference format of a cell address by using the F4 key. When editing a formula, place the cursor to the left of the cell address (or between the row and column values) and then keep pressing F4. Excel cycles through the various formats. When you see the format you want, press Enter. If you want to apply the new reference format to multiple cell addresses, highlight the addresses, press F4 until you get the format you want, and press Enter.
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Copying a Formula Without Adjusting Relative References
If you need to copy a formula but don’t want the formula’s relative references to change, follow these steps:
1. Select the cell that contains the formula you want to copy.
2. Click inside the formula bar to activate it.
3. Use the mouse or keyboard to select the entire formula.
4. Copy the selected formula.
5. Press Esc to deactivate the formula bar.
6. Select the cell in which you want the copy of the formula to appear.
7. Paste the formula.
Here are two other methods you can use to copy a formula without adjusting its relative cell references: ■ To copy a formula from the cell above, select the lower cell and press Ctrl+’ (apostrophe). ■ Activate the formula bar and type an apostrophe (’) at the beginning of the formula (that is, to the left of the equal sign) to convert it to text. Press Enter to confirm the edit, copy the cell, and then paste it in the desired location. Now, delete the apostrophe from both the source and destination cells to convert the text back to a formula.
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Displaying Worksheet Formulas
By default, Excel displays in a cell the results of the cell’s formula instead of the formula itself. If you need to see a formula, you can simply select the appropriate cell and look at the formula bar. However, sometimes you’ll want to see all the formulas in a worksheet (such as when you’re troubleshooting your work).
➔ For more information about solving formula problems, see Chapter 5, “Troubleshooting Formulas,” p. 111 .
Displaying All Worksheet Formulas
To display all of a worksheet’s formulas, select Formulas, Show Formulas.
You can also press Ctrl+` (backquote) to toggle a worksheet between values and formulas.
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Displaying a Cell’s Formula by Using
FORMULATEXT()
In some cases, rather than showing all of a sheet’s formulas, you might prefer to show the formulas in only a cell or two. For example, if you’re presenting a worksheet to other peo-ple, that sheet might have some formulas you want to show, but it might also have one or
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more proprietary formulas that you don’t want your audience to see. In such a case, you can display individual cell formulas by using the FORMULATEXT() function:
FORMULATEXT( cell )
cell The address of the cell that contains the formula you want to show
For example, the following formula displays the formula text from cell D9:
=FORMULATEXT(D9)
Converting a Formula to a Value
If a cell contains a formula whose value will never change, you can convert the formula to that value. This speeds up large worksheet recalculations and frees up memory for your worksheet because values use much less memory than formulas do. For example, you might have formulas in part of your worksheet that use values from a previous fiscal year. Because these numbers aren’t likely to change, you can safely convert the formulas to their values. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Select the cell containing the formula you want to convert.
2. Double-click the cell or press F2 to activate in-cell editing.
3. Press F9. The formula changes to its value.
4. Press Enter or click the Enter button. Excel changes the cell to the value.
You’ll often need to use the result of a formula in several places. If a formula is in cell C5, for example, you can display its result in other cells by entering =C5 in each of the cells.
This is the best method if you think the formula result might change because, if it does, Excel updates the other cells automatically. However, if you’re sure that the result won’t change, you can copy only the value of the formula into the other cells. Use the following procedure to do this:
1. Select the cell that contains the formula. 2. Copy the cell.
3. Select the cell or cells to which you want to copy the value.
4. Select Home, display the Paste list, and then select Paste Values. Excel pastes the cell’s value to each cell you selected.
Another method is to copy the cell, paste it into the destination, drop down the Paste Options list, and then select Values Only.
If your worksheet is set to manual calculation, make sure that you update your formulas (by pressing F9) before copying the values of your formulas.
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Working with Range Names in Formulas
In Chapter 2 , “Using Range Names,” you saw how to define and use range names in work-sheets. You probably use range names often in your formulas. After all, a cell that contains the formula =Sales-Expenses is much more comprehensible than one that contains the
more cryptic formula =F12-F3 . The next few sections show you some techniques that make
it easier to use range names in formulas.
Pasting a Name into a Formula
One way to enter a range name in a formula is to type the name in the formula bar. But what if you can’t remember the name? Or what if the name is long, and you’ve got a dead-line looming? For these kinds of situations, Excel has several features that enable you to select the name you want from a list and paste it right into the formula. Start your formula, and when you get to the spot where you want the name to appear, use any of the following techniques:
■ Select Formulas, Use in Formula and then click the name in the list that appears (see Figure 3.6 ).
Figure 3.6
Drop down the Use in Formula list and then click the range name you want to insert into your formula.
■ Select Formulas, Use in Formula, Paste Names (or press F3) to display the Paste Name dialog box, click the range name you want to use, and then click OK.
■ Type the first letter or two of the range name to display a list of names and functions that start with those letters, select the name you want, and then press Tab.
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Applying Names to Formulas
If you’ve been using ranges in your formulas and you name those ranges later, Excel doesn’t automatically apply the new names to the formulas. Instead of substituting the appropriate names by hand, you can get Excel to do the hard work for you. Follow these steps to apply the new range names to your existing formulas:
1. Select the range in which you want to apply the names or select a single cell if you want to apply the names to the entire worksheet.
2. Select Formulas, Define Name, Apply Names. Excel displays the Apply Names dialog box, shown in Figure 3.7 .
Figure 3.7
Use the Apply Names dialog box to select the names you want to apply to your formula ranges.
3. In the Apply Names list, choose the name or names you want applied from this list.
4. Select the Ignore Relative/Absolute check box to ignore relative and absolute refer-ences when applying names. (See the next section for more information on this option.)
5. Select the Use Row and Column Names check box to tell Excel whether to use the worksheet’s row and column names when applying names. If you select this check box, you also can click the Options button to see more choices. (See the section “Using Row and Column Names When Applying Names,” later in this chapter, for details.)
6. Click OK to apply the names.
Ignoring Relative and Absolute References When Applying Names
If you clear the Ignore Relative/Absolute option in the Apply Names dialog box, Excel replaces relative range references only with names that refer to relative references, and it replaces absolute range references only with names that refer to absolute references. If you leave this option selected, Excel ignores relative and absolute reference formats when apply-ing names to a formula.
